Si VOYAGE IN SEARCH 



come down from the heights of this mountair 

 towards Cape Town, with fuch impetuofity, th? 

 ;s with difficulty that any perfon could pz 

 through fhe flreets fituated in that direction; 

 was almoft impofiible to walk againft the wi> 

 for it drove before it, to the height of a n ] > 

 fmall ftones upwards of a centimeter in thicks 

 with fo much violence, that the people *re 

 obliged to take fhelter in their houfes. 



This impetuous wind, of which a nuntfr of 

 travellers have fpoken, appears to mr.o be 

 owing to the fituation of the lands, whicj,rifing 

 on the fea-fhore from Cape Town as fa as the 

 weft point of the entrance of Falfe Bay oppofe 

 a barrier to the fouth-eaft vinds. W.icn thefe 

 winds are ingulfed in Falfe Bay, tley can fol- 

 low the lame direction only \y overoming that 

 obftacle placed at the fouthern ectremity ot 

 Africa. The lower current of air, n rifing to 

 the lummit of thefe mountains, is :omprcficd 

 by the higher column, which courteracts its 

 cHlatation ; it muft therefore, as foon as it has 

 cleared thefe heights, react in proport.on to the 

 room it has to fprcad. Its impetuofi. y then is 

 iuch, that it fometimes makes the vefTels moored 

 in the road itart their anchors, and forces them 

 to put to fca. 



It is at the declivity of thefe high mountains 

 that this wind is in full force ; and indeed 



that 



